King Philip Mill will top safety board meeting's agenda on Tuesday

The City Council Committee on Public Safety will meet Tuesday, and topping the agenda is an update on the King Philip Mill Complex.

Jo C. Goode Herald News Staff Reporter @jgoodeHN

FALL RIVER — The City Council Committee on Public Safety will meet Tuesday, and topping the agenda is an update on the King Philip Mill Complex.

The committee meets at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.

Committee Chairman Paul DaSilva said the meeting was scheduled at the behest of the South End residents who live in the vicinity of the sprawling mill that has been a source of concern for several years because of arson, squatters living in the mill and illegal activity.

On hand at the meeting, DaSilva said, will be city Building Inspector Joseph Biszko and attorney Matthew Thomas, who brokered the tax title case filed in Tax Court in 2011. The city took ownership in June.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is expected to begin the cleanup of hazardous materials discovered in the Kilburn Street mill complex.

The EPA released a report in July that identifies hazardous and combustible material in 50 large drums inside the three-building complex. The agency will fund the cleanup effort.

DaSilva said he doesn’t know how much of a comprehesive update the residents will receive since EPA isn’t expected to release a more complete report after Labor Day.

“But we couldn’t wait that long,” said DaSilva.

Also on the agenda is a resolution sponsored by Councilor Michael Miozza that requests that procedures and regulations be created to deal with the abandoned buildings that exist throughout the city.

“I was motivated by the arson fires at the house on Bay Street when I was getting calls from people in the area concerned the city wasn’t doing enough to protect the area,” Miozza said.

The city is currenlty working to demolish the two-family structure that was the target of three arson fires since Christmas 2013 with the latest in July.

No arrests have been made related to the fires at the house at 1945 Bay St.

“There are a lot of vacant buildings in the city and we don’t have an established plan that we can go to the public and say this is the procedure we follow,” Miozza said.

Miozza said he’s looking to form standard operating procedures from identifying hazardous buildings, to boarding and fencing the identified properties to which to decide require demolition and how the city will fund the work.